ROTBTD Smiles in the Deep
by Corona Frost
Summary: Just because I thought it would be fun to write one of these. It is an older idea than my Modern AU (ROTBTD: Epic), and I have not worked on it that much. I hope that everyone who reads it enjoys it. Follow, Fave, Review!
1. Chapter 1

Go to Heaven for climate and Hell for company- Mark Twain

The storm wracked the large brigantine as she sailed the testy sea. Momma told me that that meant the sea had seen someone on the ship do something very, very bad and got angry at it. I had watched Merida steal an almond cookie last night and Momma says that watching people steal is just as bad a stealing.

I looked at my best friend, who was in the process of trying to pull her hair out of her face and hold on to the bed post at the same time.

I was no use because even with both her hands, Merida couldn't keep it out of her face.

'Merida,' I whispered, 'Are you scared?'

Merida shook her head wildly and laughed carelessly.

"Not one bit, Punzie. But I do want to go upstairs… Maybe I could take you to see you Mum? Would that make yu' feel better?' I looked at the door and nodded.

'But Momma said to stay here.' I said, my voice barely above the wind. Merida laughed again.

'She said to come up if there was an emergency. And this is an emergency.' Merida was always getting into trouble. But I was trusting and innocent, so I took her hand.

After less than a minute of bounding down the lower halls of the ship, all thoughts of my mother's warnings had fallen to the storm.

The deck was showered with water and slippery. As soon as we got out of the door to the main deck, we were swept off our feet by the wind. Fear shocked through me as I remembered that Momma kept all the young kids down for one reason: They might fall. I thought that I was going to fall overboard and die.

Suddenly, I hit something quite hard. Something thin came around my back to hold me against the thing that I had rammed into. I realized that it was a boy holding me against his chest.

'What are you doing out here, Punzie?' I looked up. Jackson Overland. _Just my Luck!_ I pushed away from his chest, grabbing his arm with one hand to keep from falling. I looked around for Merida.

She was hanging over Jack's other arm, looking like he had just stuck it out to catch her. She was also in the process of pushing herself off Jack. As soon as she hit the ground, Merida's silk slippers slid on the wet wood floor. This time, Jack caught her with both hands.

'And that,' He said, putting her down in front of me and holding her hand tight, 'Is how pride comes before the fall. Quite literally in this case.' He laughed, winking at me. I laughed gently, but not harsh enough to insult her. Merida was quite sensitive to physical touching of any kind, even from her mother. I on the other hand, would have happily let Jack carry me around the ship if I hadn't been looking for Merida.

Jack let Merida go and picked up his staff, which he had dropped to pick us up. He then held my arm with one hand and let Merida hold his staff, as she thought it was too girly to hold a guy's arm. He ordered us to take off our shoes because they would ruin our traction. He then put them in his pocket, promising to give them back when we met our mothers.

Then he put his fingers in his mouth and gave a long, shrill whistle.

There was a pause as we waited. Then there was a flapping of sails above us as Hiccup, Jack's best friend descended like a hero from a movie.

Hiccup was the leader of a group of kids on the ship called 'mast monkeys'. In other words, they did all the jumping and running and climbing. And they were good. Of them, Hiccup was the absolute best. He could jump from the tallest mast and knew just the position to land in without breaking his legs.

That was why he always looked like he had fallen out of the sky.

'Jack! Why on earth did you bring them out here? Are you crazy?' He was livid. Nothing was more important to him than the lives of children. Jack grinned at him.

'Do me a favour, Hiccup.' I need to know where the caps are. Hiccup nodded. Even when furious at him, nobody disobeyed an order from Jack. Nobody. Hiccup jumped up, catching swinging rope that I hadn't really noticed till now. He climbed up at an amazing speed, and was at the top of the mast in no time flat. He looked Then he jumped down. At first, I thought he was crazy. Then a rope appeared out of nowhere. He grabbed it and landed soundlessly behind us.

'Bravo Ragazza.' Merida said, clapping sarcastically. Hiccup bowed, and then blushed as he straightened. Jack cleared his throat, getting impatient.

'Right,' Hiccup said in his distracted way. 'The captain and quarter master are at the back' He said, pointing to the poop deck that he refused to call its real name. He said it was vulgar.

Jack grinned and grabbed my arm again, pulling me off. Suddenly, Merida disappeared from beside Jack. I heard her scream of laughter as she went careening through the air in Hiccup's arms.

Jack threw me onto his back, and started running. How he ran that fast was a mystery. I did not know how he managed to run without falling. What I did know was that this was a race, and we were going fast. And like any little girl on a piggy back, I started to whoop with joy. Jack smiled up at me, looking amused. I whooped again, throwing my hands up in the air.

In the end, Hiccup beat us, but it was close and we would have won if we hadn't given them a head-start. Finally, we walked the three stairs to poop deck.

Our mothers were standing at the very back, leaning on the rail, talking quietly. I heard my mother murmur about calling 'The Master Mast Monkey', Hiccup. Hiccup walked up to them.

'Trouble?' He asked in low tones.

'Hiccup.' My mother said, nodding her ebony curls as a way of greeting. Hiccup nodded back.

'Where's your best frien'?' Merida's mother asked in her strong accent. She handed the thingy that makes things far away seem close to Hiccup.

'Actually, that's why I came. Jack let the princesses out of their room.'

'I did not!' Jack said hotly, there was not greater offence than being blamed for something that Merida had done.

'You didn't?' Hiccup asked, glancing at him.

'Oh, he did all right! Led us out of our rooms. And we trusted him. Why, he even told us that Mum 'ad called us!' Merida exclaimed innocently.

By now, both our mothers had turned around and were leaning against the railing, smiles at their lips.

'What say, Elinor,' Momma asked, turning to _her_ best friend, 'Should we send the whole lot to the lion's den until they feel some remorse?' Elinor laughed and shook her head.

Her face became serious, 'Jack, I want you to take them to their room and come straight back. Hiccup, take a look at that flag all the way out. You see it?' Hiccup nodded. But Jack protested.

'They were scared, they came to see you.' He said.

Hiccup whirled around, 'Jack, you know I hate going against your orders, but take them down. Captain, Quarter Master,' He glanced at us, 'we have…er…trouble.' He yanked Jack forward, 'Get everyone in position, they're looking for,' He glanced at us again, 'A…you know what I mean.' Jack nodded, quickly picking us up and carrying us.

Unfortunately for him, Merida wanted to know what was going on.

'What's going on?' She hollered, 'I don't want to go back! Mommy! Mommy! Put me down, ya' big bully!' And with that, Merida gave Jack a solid kick in the knee. He fell to the ground, landing on top of the two eight-year-old girls.

'Shut up!' He hissed, pressing his face to hers, 'Do you know how much trouble this could cause?'

'I don't care!' She screamed rebelliously, 'Mommy!' Jack pushed her back, growling under his breath. Merida ran past him, and grabbed her mother's legs.

'Jack!' Elinor screamed back, apparently too busy to deal with it right now, 'Forget it! We'll get them to their room! Go get everyone into position!'

'This could go all wrong because of your little friend,' He hissed to me, 'and if it does, I warned you.' He ran off to get everyone.

I was standing beside my mother when they came. She had been talking quite fast in some other language, so I was not interested in listening to them gabble. I sat down with Merida on the side.

'Jack says that if things get ruined, it's all your fault' I said. Merida shrugged, 'Why'd you do it?'

'I realized that they were keeping a secret from me and I wanted to know what it was, so I made a racket.' After that, we sat in silence.

They came fast, announcing their coming with a loud explosion. Their ship was painted dark like the night, and the men on it were like shadows. To my left, I saw Hiccup disappear into the folds of the sail. The ship rocked with the howling sea.

A man stood at the helm, his eyes searching the deck. He could not see me or Merida, but he was staring at Momma. A smile appeared at his thin, scarred, lips.

'Hello, milady,' He said, swooping off his hat, 'I'm looking for a quartermaster. A lad with good pirate sense, and I hear you're sellin'' He saw the captain's look of defiance and winked, 'He will be well looked after, I promise.'

'We're not selling anything but a whole lot of merchant goods. The children on this ship are not slaves, just my extended family.' Her voice rang with authority, a strong, queenly, elegance. I smiled secretly.

'Do you know who I am?' He boomed, all his joking around gone as he realized that getting something off Elinor would not be as easy as he hoped.

'You' she said in a voice void of all emotion, 'Are a man who could not protect his own quartermaster from a storm and comes here claiming to take care of a child.'

The man stiffed slightly, 'Lower the plank!' He yelled to someone hidden by the fog. I heard a deep thud as a plank of wood was loosened to connect the two boats. Then there was a twang, and the plank fell soundlessly on the deck.

I almost laughed aloud. Pirates considered the dropping of the gangplank the most intimidating part of the attack. And we had stopped the noise with some carefully positioned ropes.

'Where are your children?' he asked hauntingly as he crossed the plank. Many men started running onto our ship from the other one.

'Leave the women alone, find all the children and bring them here.' the captain ordered in a husky voice.

Only a few minutes later, a majority of the children on the ship had been collected. Jack was in them, looking gloomy.

I was still staring at Jack, wondering how they had captured him when an arm grabbed the back of my dress. I could do nothing but scream and kick, and squeal and holler. So that is what I did. A man put me and Merida among the other children, who all seemed quite subdued. I had expected them to fight back.

Jack grabbed us to the back of the crowd, 'Merida, Rapunzel, listen to me, 'cause I'm only going to say this once. I know it looks like we've given up, but we have a plan. We need to stick to it, okay? If we don't we might lose someone.'

'What do you mean?' I whispered, the reality of the situation dawning on me.

'This guy has... had a quartermaster, but he died. So, he wants to get a new one that he can train while he's still—,'

'Hey! Stand up boy! Stop talking to those girls.' One of the big men shouted.

'Sorry,' Jack screamed back, 'they were just wondering what was going on.' He glanced at us to make sure we knew. I nodded, then elbowed Merida. She nodded.

The big fat man (the captain, I assume) was starting to inspect each child one by one. He would grunt, at each one. The three of us were at the end of the line.

He stood up right before Jack, looking impressed. 'I make take two or three of these guys, just to be on the safe side. You've trained them well. Every one of them is either going to die well or become a great pirate.'

He looked at Jack, of rather, the spot where Jack had just been standing. He did a double take. He pointed to the spot as if he had seen a ghost.

'Where did that boy go?' he asked, his voice scared and unsteady. A murmur went to the crowd as they all denied seeing anyone leave the line. The man stared around, his eyes like globes.

Then, directly above his head, Jack appeared. He held up three fingers, doing the count down. Two. One.

Out of nowhere, children ran across the deck. Over dramatic battle cries called from each side of the deck as they streamed through every possible crack and crevice. Each child held two to three weapons, and several we tossed into the air, entering the circle of guards way above their reach. Suddenly, each child in the circle had a weapon. And just like that, the guards were being attacked from both sides.

Jack handed Merida her bow and arrows, and handed me a frying pan. The frying pan was for me because I hated the thought of drawing blood. And it was quite affective for knocking people out and questioning them later.

After a little while, the tides had changed dramatically, and we were definitely in the lead. Then, like they always do when they are going well, things went horribly wrong. Someone picked me right off my feet for the third time that day. I felt cold steel at my neck.

'SILENCE!' I recognized the voice of Captain I-Am-So-High-And-Mighty, 'WHERE IS THE BROWN-HAIRED BOY?' He yelled above the din. According to his order, silence fell.

Elinor stepped forward, 'Please leave the girl alone, there are too many brown-haired boys on this ship to look for one of them, and that girl has nothing to do with this.'

'I think you know which boy I am interested in, and this girl is just leverage.' He replied in a calm voice. Elinor's lips pursed, she was thinking hard. Jack was the guy who was in charge of the deck when Elinor and Momma couldn't be. All the kids loved him too. But I was her best friend's daughter and her daughter's best friend. I knew which was worth more. I shook my head at her.

'She's quite noble for a girl who can't be above eight years old.' He commented, 'How old are you, girl?' He asked me. I glanced at Momma, who nodded.

'Eight.' I replied. He smiled, showing off a disgusting set of yellowed teeth.

'Where's the boy, woman? Or do you want an innocent girl to die?' I saw Jack push through the crowd. I closed my eyes.

'I'm right here…' He hesitated, 'But I'll only come with you if you promise not to take anyone else.'

His hand loosened a little on my neck, but still held the knife, 'Boy, what makes you think that I can't take you and someone else at my will?'

Jack took a deep breath, 'You saw me, I could be gone before you had time to put her down, I could swim in the sea for a month and live only on a wheel of cheese. You would never have time to find me. I could hide in your ship for day and empty your food into the sea, and still, you would not find me. But,' He took another deep breath, 'If you leave without anyone else, I will come with you, willingly.'

The man smiled, his breath smelt terrible, 'I don't know… but I might consider if…how good are you with the sword?'

A moment later, the man was circling slowly around Jack. Jack was wearing a blindfold, his hands were in front of his face. I watched him carefully. We had played this game many times before. With no one's life on the line. Jack had always told me that it was best to keep your feet on the ground. The man danced around him lightly, taunting him. Jack circled slowly, following his movements. In his hand was a thin sword.

The man lashed out, aiming for Jack's shoulder. Jack defended with his sword for no reason. He had ducked before the shot came.

'Who taught you with the sword, boy?' The man asked in disbelief.

'Whoever it was taught me never to talk when hiding.' And it continued. It took up the pattern of verbal bickering, physical fighting, verbal bickering, physical fighting. In the end, the man was quite impressed.

'Tell you what, boy. I'll take your deal under one condition: I'm going to take this little girl with me just in case you… misbehave.'

He turned, picking me up again. Jack was gone before he turned back. He held me to his chest, pressing the knife to my neck. I felt a trickle of blood slide down my neck and soak into my dress.

The smiled that disgusting smile again. 'You just made a classic mistake, boy' He dropped me to the floor and walked to his ship. In the dark, we could just see the silhouettes of two women standing, guarded by several men, on the opposite deck.

The other captain crossed the plank, his leg thudding smartly against the wood. He made it to the other side just as Jack fell from the sky and started running after him. I could just stand there, paralyzed. I saw Merida out of the corner of my eye. She was trembling from head to foot, tears soaking her face. Hiccup stood behind her, one hand on her shoulder.

Jack was already on the gangplank when one of the men hit it with an axe, shattering it beneath his feet. He landed on a thin ledge on the side of the boat. After he squirmed back up, he stared out at the leaving ship. He pulled me and several other young children to himself, hugging us close. I looked up at him.

'Jack, I'm scared' I whispered. He looked down at me, then back at the disappearing ship. His throat constricted.

'It's okay. Everything will be fine. You have to trust me. I'll get us through. And we'll find them. Even if we have to tear the world apart looking.' He winked at me, trying to lighten the mood, 'It'll be fun.' That night, Jack was appointed Captain and Hiccup was appointed Quartermaster. Until me and Merida could take over. Until our Mothers came back.


	2. Chapter 2

**So this is the second chapter of my Pirate AU. I am not soo impressed by how this turned out, but I won't give you any clues.**

It's funny how you find you enjoy your life when you're happy to be alive- Matthew Thiessen (Relient K, Sunny on the High of 75) 

The sunlight flitted gently through my cabin window, waking me from a peaceful, dreamless sleep. My eyes opened slowly adjusting to the golden light that—

_Crash! _I sighed. Could you have no peace and quiet on this silly boat in the middle of nowhere? I heard a loud thud against my cabin door.

'_Oof!_ What is wrong with you kids? Can't I have some peace and quiet on this ridiculous hunk a' junk? Get off me!' Jackson Frost Overland. I smiled as his handsome face appeared in my mind. I was quite in love with Jack, but you could never tell how he felt because he flirted with every girl on the ship that was younger than him, even Merida.

I heard the laughter of several children that I assumed were clinging to the back of his shirt, 'We all know where you were going! Don't lie!' I heard a girl yell at the top of her lungs.

'Well at this rate,' he hissed, 'I am never going to get there, as you bozos keep pouncing me whenever I get close.' I didn't wonder where he was going, Jack was always going somewhere.

I opened the door. At my feet was a messy jumble of laughing children. In fact, if you had not heard him swearing, I doubt anyone could have guessed that a nineteen-year-old boy was in the centre of the pile. An amused smile crept to my lips. I cleared my throat.

Attention was immediate, and every one of the children stood, stomping their right feet on the ground and holding their hands at their heads. Except for the littlest girl, who stomped her left foot and saluted off her eyes. I smile as I watched Jack, who still hadn't realized that I was there, and was curled up on the deck, arms shielding his head, expecting an attack from the children any moment now.

Slowly, the children relaxed and started giggling at Jack's awkward position on the floor. Finally, he looked up, his brown eyes blinking rapidly. I raised my eyebrows. He hopped to his feet, staring at me awkwardly. I looked into his embarrassed face, searching. He scratched the back of his head, mumbling about being sorry for disturbing me.

I laughed and sent the whole lot of them on their way.

I started walking to Merida's room. On my way, I saw Jack standing on the top deck, retelling his story to Hiccup, who did not look too impressed by Jack's crazy antics.

Laughing under my breath, I made my way to Merida's cabin. I almost knocked, but then reconsidered. I peeked inside. Sure enough, Merida sat at her desk. On the desk was a letter. I could not read it, but I could see a loopy heart in the bottom left corner of the paper. Merida did not know that I ever looked into her room without knocking.

I watched as she folded the letter and placed it in an envelope. Then, she laid the letter on the shelf of her clothes wardrobe.

I smiled to myself. I had known that Merida received love letters for a while now. I was just dying to know who sent them to her and what they said, by I settled for spying on her while she read the letter.

I closed the door softly and knocked.

'Coming!' Merida screamed, like she did for everything you could possibly scream for.

She swung the door open, and I walked in.

'Waddup, sis-tah' She giggled as I passed her.

'No'inmuch, 'ow 'bout oo?' I laughed back. Talking in exaggerated slang had become the new thing between me and Merida.

'You excited 'bout the party?' Merida asked, using her normal voice, which was still quite accented.

'Yep! I'm thinking about getting a new dress for the ceremony. Do you think it would look idiotic if I wore one thing for the party and another thing for the ceremony?'

'No one would mind, but I think you should just stick with one thing so that you're not postponing the whole thing 'cause you washing your golden curls.' She gestured 'golden curls' he hand getting stuck in her own bright curls.

I put my hand on my head, feigning shock, 'Did my hair curl overnight? I hate to be the one to break this to you, but my 'golden curls' are actually straight.'

'Oh? I hadn't noticed.'

I rolled my eyes, 'So… are you going to change for the party _this_ year?' I asked, tucking a piece of hair behind my ear and giving her the 'I'm interested' look.

'Nope, not in this lifetime or any other.'

'Oh, come _on_! There must be _someone_ out there that you want to impress.'

'Nice try, Punzie, but I am no idiot.' I sighed, plopping on the bed.

'Ugh' I mumbled, my head in my hands.

'Why'd yu' bring it up? You got someone on your mind?' I was about to make up some excuse when I that she was not suspicious, but playful.

I felt my face warming as I wondered if she knew about me liking Jack. I hoped not.

'Wellllllll? Who is it?'

'Huh?' I asked innocently.

Merida giggled delightedly, 'You have a crush. Don't you dare deny it! It's all over your face! You look like you saw a ghost! Orrrrr… you see the face of your true love and he's so ugly that your face pales at the thought of him!' Merida was literally screaming with laughter.

'Shush, the whole boat will hear you! What on earth gave you the idea— ,'

'Don't even try it, Rapunzel! I know you too well for that! In fact I—,'

'SHUT UP!' Silence. I closed my eyes. I never shouted at Merida unless I was stressed or nervous. A sardonic smile crept to her lips.

She waited.

And waited.

Finally, I sighed, 'You'll think it's stupid,' I mumbled. Merida had a thing for Jack. It wasn't a good thing.

'I promise not to laugh… or say anything against him in my life.' She closed her blue eyes solemnly and crossed her heart. Now it was my turn to smile sardonically.

'Jackson Frost Overland' I said, dragging out each syllable of his sweet name.

Merida's eyes shot open, and she peered around me to see if he had entered the room and given me reason to say his name.

'What?' She asked, looking a good deal more than alarmed.

I smiled gently, nodding my head, staring at her with my calm emerald eyes.

'Jack?' She still looked numb from shock. I nodded again.

'You're not going to insult him?'

'What? Punzie! You can' even ask that of me! He's a…a… You're in _love_ with that…that…Ugh'

'You promised not to insult him!'

'I know… but you can' be in love with him! You're just saying that to annoy me.'

'I'm _not_' I insisted, 'There's just something about him that makes my heart turn into a bird. Every time I look at him, I feel my heart beat faster, and when he looks at me, the only thing I can do is smile. I can't even speak. He's so cute and he's amazing with children. You know how all the ones on the ship love him. And he's so goofy. And…' I realized that Merida was giving me the 'crazy' look. I blushed, 'Sorry.'

Her forehead creased in bewilderment, 'It's okay'

I sighed.

The door swung open. Hiccup strode in. He saw me and stopped. A tickled smile appeared at his lips.

'You're in here?' He asked, looking at me with deep green eyes. A small bubble of laughter burst from his lips, 'Again?'

'What do you mean, 'again?'?'

He seemed to consider my question, 'Wanna know a secret?'

I glanced at Merida, she raised her eyebrows and shrugged. I looked back at Hiccup and nodded.

'Promise not to tell?' I shrugged, having no idea who I would tell if Merida would hear it with me, she was the only one I ever shared secrets with.

'Jack's in your room.' He said simply, putting a pile of maps onto Merida's desk. I stared at him until he turned around and continued, 'This is the second time he went there looking for you without the kids noticing. And the second time he found your room empty.'

'Jack is looking for me?' I asked, glancing at Merida, who shrugged again, apparently trying to get over the fact that Jack had actually committed himself to a girl instead of keeping millions waiting for a smile.

Hiccup laughed again, 'I can't believe you didn't know! Everyone else on the ship knows.'

'They do?' I asked blankly.

'Tell me, Rapunzel. What was your explanation for the fact that Jack always crashes in front of your cabin instead of anyone else's?'

I looked at him numbly for a few seconds, then made for the door. 'Merida, uh… I'll…I'll be right back.

As I walked to my room, my head spun. Jack had been looking for me in my room. _Don't be stupid, _I told myself, _He probably just wants to give you the keys to… to where._ I stopped at the door, just in time to hear someone inside sigh.

I walked in. Jack was sitting on my bed, head in his hands, looking miserable. I walked across the room to my bed. I slowly lowered myself onto the thin mattress.

I put my arm around his shoulders, 'What's wrong, Jack?'

His head shot up, his shoulders stiffened. He didn't even have to look at me. His shoulders relaxed and his head dropped back into his hands.

'Ugh' He mumbled pitifully.

I slipped onto the floor in front of him, taking his hands in mine. He stared down at me, the covering for his eyes removed.

His eyes were dreamy and the perfect brown. I gently pressed my lips against his knuckles.

I won't tell you how it go to where it ended, but I will tell her where it ended. 

In Hiccup's words, we ended in 'The joining of two things in a male and female generally used for eating and talking, as a way of showing passionate liking for the other and also used as a form of deception in the Bible, the holy book of the Christians, used by the deceitful Judas.'

Erm… we kissed. 

**Yeah, It was cheesey. So what? I enjoyed writing it, and i hope you enjoyed reading it. (I really don't know how the other authors find stuff to write down here, I'm just doing it cause I finally found out how to use the online editor(I know how stupid that sounds)). Fave, Follow, Review (what order is that supposed to be in _anyway?_)**


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